See a Little Blue in Aquarius

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Apollo XX
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See a Little Blue in Aquarius

Unread post by Apollo XX »

And by little, I'm talking small. Neptune will be nicely positioned over the next month or so for telescopic viewing, so why not take a gander at our outermost planet? (Disclaimer: I'm of an age where Pluto was a planet for much more of my life than it hasn't been. I'm still a believer, but whatever.) At a distance of around 2.5 billion miles away, it's kind of cool to know that you can resolve the distant gas giant into a colorful disc with enough horsepower. One you've found it, accelerate to over 200x and see if you can discern the distinct blue hue. Also, for you big scope operators out there, while you're at it see if you can resolve Neptune's moon Triton. While Neptune itself is currently glowing at about Mag7.6, Triton shines at a measly Mag14. I'm including a link to a PDF document for your printing convenience and use at the telescope. The top half of the page shows the general area of Aquarius to look in, while the bottom half is a narrow-field chart for zeroing in on the planet.

Good Luck seeing Neptune!

Click here to download the PDF: https://www.mediafire.com/?kt049n1yp14jyny
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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mrgizmo65
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Re: See a Little Blue in Aquarius

Unread post by mrgizmo65 »

Thanks for that info Mike, i'll give that a try. I curious about that the adjustable eyepiece you got a while back, just what have you been doing with it and in your opinion, is it a must have for us??? Jerry
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Apollo XX
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Re: See a Little Blue in Aquarius

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Glad to hear that you're on board with the Neptune Challenge Jerry!

As far as the Meade zoom eyepiece goes, it has basically taken up a permanent residence in my daily solar scope. That scope is a 90mm F11 refractor equipped with a Lunt Herschel wedge, and I keep a Baader Solar Continuum filter and a single polarizing filter stacked on the bottom of the eyepiece. This setup has proven to be a robust performer, offering outstanding views of the sun in white light. I can regularly discern granulation, faculae, and striations and other details in the sunspots. The zoom eyepiece provides me with a range of 50x to 125x with just a twist of the barrel. I've yet to have daytime seeing that will support more than 125x on the sun. The narrow field of view at longer focal lengths that's annoyingly apparent when using the eyepiece for night sky viewing isn't even remotely noticeable when viewing the sun, moon or planets. I am very satisfied with the quality of the viewing experience when using the zoom eyepiece.
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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Apollo XX
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Re: See a Little Blue in Aquarius

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Got out last night for some viewing and took a gander at Neptune in the SE sky. The distant gas ball finally cleared the trees by a little after 10:00pm, and was very easy to locate near Sigma Aquarius. At 200x it was still somewhat stellar in appearance, but there was definitely a hint if diskishness. (How do you like my new word?) :P At 260x it took on a decidedly planetary appearance with a pale hue. The illumination of the planet was retained reasonably well for that mag in a small scope, as the stars in the region got quite noticeably dimmer. At just 2.4" in apparent diameter there isn't a lot to work with, but I think it responded quite well to my efforts. Definitely worth the trip. 8)
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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